Rolls of toilet paper and an associated dispenser are nearly ubiquitous fixtures anywhere there is a toilet. Toilet paper is usually dispensed from a horizontally-placed toilet paper holder located close to the toilet for easy access.
While such dispensers are indubitably functional, they have a number of drawbacks. First, the freewheeling design often results in accidentally dispensing more toilet paper than was desired, which results in waste. If an attempt is made to re-roll the paper, it becomes an unsightly mess and can be unsanitary.
Moreover, elderly or disabled persons may suffer from reduced manual dexterity that inhibits their ability to unroll the toilet paper.
Various attempts have been made to provide powered toilet paper dispensers. Examples of these attempts can be seen by reference to several U.S. patents. U.S. Pat. No. 4,071,200, issued in the name of Stone, describes a toilet tissue dispensing assembly attachable to an existing wall-mounted toilet tissue dispenser. The Stone apparatus further includes a motor-driven gear assembly.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,721,265, issued in the name of Hawkins, describes an electronic toilet tissue dispenser with a continuous dispensing function actuated by placing your hand in front of a sensor.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,312,021, issued in the name of Nelson, describes a combined rolled paper product and liquid fluid dispenser with a button-actuated automatic toilet paper unrolling mechanism.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,354,015, issued in the name of Byrd et al., describes a hands-free electric paper towel dispenser with a sensing mechanism actuated by placing an object, such as a hand, adjacent to the front cover.
While these apparatuses fulfill their respective, particular objectives, each of these references suffer from one (1) or more of the aforementioned disadvantages. Many such apparatus are difficult to refill. Furthermore, many such apparatus contain or partially contain the toilet paper roll which makes it difficult to determine when a roll is nearly expended. Also, many such apparatuses are unnecessarily difficult to operate, either in terms of complexity or physical requirements. Accordingly, there exists a need for an electronic toilet paper dispenser without the disadvantages as described above. The development of the present invention substantially departs from the conventional solutions and in doing so fulfills this need.